Defining Christ, Part TwoThe Father/Son Relationship

John R Gavazzoni

Rushing to conclusions is a sign of both natural and spiritual
immaturity. It is often true, as the saying goes, that "A little
knowledge is a dangerous thing." Concerning the relationship of God, our
Father, and His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, some folks, fixating on
little more than one word in one verse of scripture, make that verse say
something that it really does not. So it is with the statement of Jesus:
"I and the Father are one." Be careful about fixating on the word, "one"
in that verse.
I do not mean to sound caustic, dear ones, but in order to make my point
emphatically, I will borrow from contemporary rhetoric, and ask this
simple question of those who are forming maddeningly illogical
conclusions regarding relationship within Deity, "Just what part of
'and' don't you understand?"
May I be so bold as to encourage you, at least in regard to the
following, that you follow my example when it comes to forming opinions
on the basis of a direction of thought that might be initiated when one
is contemplating how to interpret a passage of scripture.

Of course, it is elementary, that we with all humility, submit our brain
to the mind of Christ which we have by the indwelling of the Spirit of
Truth. But, also, there is the practical dimension of an approach to the
Bible. We ought to take it slow and easy from the very outset when our
mind is drawn in a certain direction of conclusion based upon what seems
to us at the moment to be what a certain passage is saying.

This has been my practice for years. I almost immediately pause and read
the passage several times in its immediate and larger context (not
forgetting to consider its cultural context), checking several
translations, chewing the Word, digesting it, letting the thought of the
writer, and most importantly the thought of the Spirit sink in, and in
so doing I often discover that though I thought I knew what the passage
said, I really, after all, did not, or that I missed something which
upon more careful examination became quite clear.

The next step involves a process of comparing that verse with others,
also in their context, that at least first appear to be addressing the
same subject, also setting, in my mind, the verse I'm considering
against the great backdrop of the essential thrust of the whole of
scripture. One does, after many years, get a "feel" for the essential
message of scripture which threads its way from Genesis to Revelation,
so we ought to be instantly suspicious if we're being led in a direction
which, at that point at least, seems contradictory to that divine
thread.

Of course, there are those who do not need to take such care in their
handling of the written words of God, for they have such an absolutely
undisturbed, direct, mystical and immediate access to the mind of God,
that they have no need for such pedestrian labors. They are beyond
trying the spirits. They are so spiritual that they need not consider
the apostolic warning that there are many spirits that have gone forth
into the world. (If you did not pick up on the sarcasm in the last
sentence, please do so now).

Then there is the matter of recalling the input of others in our lives
through their personal fellowship and teaching, and through their
writings. The Spirit of Truth is God's deposit to the whole church and
needs to be experienced in relationship with one another. Be willing to
be adjusted in your thinking by the thinking of others. This is not
necessarily contradictory to being taught of God.

The anointing that we have that teaches us all things is first a
corporate anointing from which we individually draw. I want to
acknowledge that there are genuine, spiritually-healthy believers who
are not given to great scrutiny of scripture, but those brethren are
careful not to set themselves up as teachers to the church. I love the
simplicity of the faith of such ones, and have been enriched by their
spirit.

Well, I could go on and on in this vein, but I think what I've shared
thus far is enough to make the point. So back to the relationship within
Deity. Central to this subject, of course, is the relationship of the
Father to the Son. Clearly Jesus affirmed a relationship with the Father
that was a matter of both distinction and similarity. "I AND the Father
are ONE." Minds undisciplined by the Lord often want to consider either
only the "one" factor, or the "and" factor. But we are faced with two
dimensions of relationship; "and" and "one."

The Son's relationship with the Father--- which includes our
relationship with the Father in Him--- is not a matter of either/ or,
but of both. On one hand, the Father is the Father, and Christ Jesus is
the Son, and on the other hand, they are one. This is elementary
theologically. The oneness is a oneness of union, not of simplistic
sameness. We find this all through the Bible. God brings forth out of
Adam a hitherto hidden dimension of his being, Eve; then the two are
joined together and become one flesh. This is based upon God realizing
within the oneness of Deity an "Us," as in, "Let Us make man in Our
image........Male AND female created He them." So man is a "them" and
God is an "Us," and the correlative element is the male/female dynamic.

The Christ expresses Himself as His Body and His Bride, the Father
bringing forth out of the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ. Few
things are more pregnant in meaning as that last scene in the Book of
Revelation where the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, descends out of
heaven from God, as a bride adorned for her husband.

That romantic scene is the consummation in a garden/city setting of what
began in the garden setting in Genesis. The garden has grown into a
garden-city. We see God as the great Husbandman and the great Builder.
In both settings there is God's man and woman, a river, the tree of life
and no curse. The thing missing in the end is the Tree of the Knowledge
of Good and Evil, so that the potential for and eventuality of the curse
has been removed.

Dear student of scripture, let not the obvious escape us. The Son of God
has been eternally birthed by God, a birthing translated into the aion
by the Holy Spirit, making the Christ both eternal and aionian. He is
Emmanuel, God with us. He is with us in the aions from eternity. He is
begotten from eternity and from there into space-time. The Holy Spirit
is the Person(al) transmission of, and reception of the Seed of Deity.

The Son is not the Father, and the Father is not the Son. The Son is the
Son, and the Father is the Father, but the Son is one with the Father in
that He is the reproduction of God, as a Son. God became both a Father
and a Son in the birth of the Son. Deity knows both the experience of
Fatherhood and Sonship within Its own Being. They are absolutely of one
substance and nature, for in the Seed of God is the essence of Deity, no
less than in the Father.

The Father has One who is just like Him in every way, except that He
remains Father to the Son, and the Son remains Son to the Father. The
Father is, in that sense, greater than the Son, for the Son received His
life from the Father and eternally lives by the life of the Father. See,
my dear brethren, there is an OTHERNESS within the ONENESS. If you
cannot entertain that duality in unity, then you give evidence of
spiritual and intellectual adolescence.

For some reason, some minds in opposition to the above, flit to Paul's
teaching about Christ reigning until He has put every enemy under His
feet, upon which He will deliver up the kingdom to the Father, that God
may be all in all. HELLO! Is anyone there or am I just talking to empty
cranial air? The goal of the administration of God is that God should be
all in all. There it is again, duality in unity. It's not just God as
all, it's God, as all IN all. Two alls.

Once there was only one All--- God; then God brought forth another all,
admittedly out of Himself, but nevertheless another all, so that He
might not longer only be All, but All in all. Let's see, let's try it
this way: 1 plus 1 equals 2. Well maybe that's just too simple for the
truly profound among us. Does God become all in all, but the Father
ceases to be all in the Son, and that relationship, which began in
eternity, ends up dissolved?

Please note how scripture uses "one" and "with" in regard to the
indwelling of Christ. To be sure, "He that is joined to the Lord is one
spirit," but have you forgotten the various versions of Paul's
benediction, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be WITH your spirit."
Aww, come on now; it's a matter of ONENESS of spirit, but also of
WITHNESS of spirit.